928 So. 2d 1089 - Davis v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 44 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 46 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The facts of the instant matter are entirely distinguishable from those present in Rompilla . As noted above, defense counsel in the present case reviewed all of the materials that were in his possession in preparation for Davis’s penalty phase trial. Moreover, unlike Rompilla , there is no indication that there was material here that trial counsel was aware the State was going to use in aggravation that was not obtained and reviewed by trial counsel prior to the penalty phase trial. Moreover, unlike defense counsel in Rompilla , Davis’s trial counsel reviewed records in the public defender’s file transmitted to him regarding Davis’s medical history, educational background, and other general background information surrounding his life. A thorough reading of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Rompilla reveals that it is inapplicable to the facts of the instant matter. Unlike defense counsel’s deficient performance in Rompilla, trial counsel’s investigation in the instant matter was within the level of reasonable performance that is required by Strickland [v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) ] and Wiggins [v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 (2003)]. See Rompilla, 125 S.Ct. at 2463 (‘[T]he duty to investigate does not force defense lawyers to scour the globe on the off-chance something will turn up; reasonably diligent counsel may draw a line when they have good reason to think further investigation would be a waste.’) (citing Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 525 , 123 S.Ct. 2527 ; Stricklan”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Davis v. State

2. “Habeas petitions are the proper vehicle to advance claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. See Rutherford v. Moore, 774 So.2d 637, 643 (Fla.2000); Thompson v. State, 759 So.2d 650, 660 (Fla.2000). However, claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel may not be used to camouflage issues that could and should have been presented on direct appeal or in a proper postconviction motion. See id. When analyzing the merits of the claim, “[t]he criteria for proving ineffective assistance of appellate counsel parallel the Strickland standard for ineffective trial counsel.” Rutherford, 774 So.2d at 643 (quoting Wilson v. Wainwright, 474 So.2d 1162, 1163 (Fla.1985)). Thus, this Court’s ability to grant habeas relief on the basis of appellate counsel’s ineffectiveness is limited to those situations where the petitioner establishes first, that appellate counsel’s performance was deficient and second, that the petitioner was prejudiced because appellate counsel’s deficiency compromised the appellate process to such a degree as to undermine confidence in the correctness of the result. See id. “If a legal issue “would in all probability have been found to be without merit’ had counsel raised the issue on direct appeal, the failure of appellate counsel to present the meritless issue will not render appellate counsel’s performance ineffective.” Rutherford, 774 So.2d at 643 (quoting Williamson v. Dugger, 651 So.2d 84, 86 (Fla.1994)). This is generally true with regard to ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Simmons v. State

3. “[C]ounsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary. In any ineffectiveness case, a particular decision not to investigate must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances, applying a heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments. The reasonableness of counsel's actions may be determined or substantially influenced by the defendant's own statements or actions. Counsel's actions are usually based, quite properly, on informed strategic choices made by the defendant and on information supplied by the defendant. In particular, what investigation decisions are reasonable depends critically on such information. For example, when the facts that support a certain potential line of defense are generally known to counsel because of what the defendant has said, the need for further investigation may be considerably diminished or eliminated altogether. And when a defendant has given counsel reason to believe that pursuing certain investigations would be fruitless or even harmful, counsel's failure to pursue those investigations may not later be challenged as unreasonable.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 18 So. 3d 473 - Beasley v. State